1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to methods and systems for managing products within, for example, e-business systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and systems for optimizing the order, delivery and transport processes of products from a supplier to a customer within a supply chain management system by considering the lifecycle of relevant products.
2. Background Information
Supply chain management comprises the process of coordinating the flow of goods, services, information and/or finances between the involved parties, such as manufactures, suppliers, wholesalers, retailers, and consumers. This process may include, among others, order processing, information feedback, and delivering the ordered goods and/or services in a timely manner.
In current supply chain management systems, the availability of an ordered quantity of products is checked within an availability check process. This availability check process is based on a list comprising a plurality of locations which may be considered by the availability check. The list may be built by evaluating a plurality of available-to-promise (ATP) rules, wherein the ATP rules define the locations which have to be checked. In addition to the locations, it may be possible to define alternative products with the ATP rules, whereby it is only possible to define the replacement of one single product with one single alternative product.